A great man . . . anxious to know whether the
blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched. --Macaulay.
2. To cover as with breeches. [Poetic]
Their daggers unmannerly breeched with gore. --Shak.
3. To fit or furnish with a breech; as, to breech a gun.
4. To whip on the breech. [Obs.]
Had not a courteous serving man conveyed me away,
whilst he went to fetch whips, I think, in my
conscience, he would have breeched me. --Old Play.
I view the prince with Aristarchus' eyes, Whose
looks were as a breeching to a boy. --Marlowe.
2. That part of a harness which passes round the breech of a
horse, enabling him to hold back a vehicle.
3. (Naut.) A strong rope rove through the cascabel of a
cannon and secured to ringbolts in the ship's side, to
limit the recoil of the gun when it is discharged.
4. The sheet iron casing at the end of boilers to convey the
smoke from the flues to the smokestack.